All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Loneliness strikes more than a fifth of people worldwide, a new survey warns. In the Gallup survey published Wednesday, 23% of people said they felt lonely “a lot of the previous day.” Those experiencing feelings of loneliness often felt physical pain, worry, sadness, stress and anger, as well. Beyond its emotional toll, loneliness is “a medical problem” that should be taken “very seriously,” psychiatrist Dr. Sue Varma told CBS News. “It’s the equivalent of having somebody smoke 15 cigarettes per day, and we know that it affects our mind and our body,” she said. “It predisposes us to anxiety and depression. It increases our risk by 30% for heart disease, for stroke, 50% for dementia, and 60% for premature mortality.” But there is a way to combat loneliness, she added.  “Look at the quality of your relationships and say, ‘Do I feel seen and validated and appreciated?’ ” Varma said. “We want to have a mix of micro connections — talking to the barista, talking to your dog walker — but also deep and meaningful connections in your life, where you can feel vulnerable and open up to share,” she explained.  The survey also showed loneliness was worse for young Americans than older ones. “It’s really unfortunate that as much as we want our children to succeed, the emphasis I feel is being put on…  read on >  read on >

Few Americans understand the health risks of drinking raw milk, a new survey shows, so experts are redoubling efforts to get the word out on its dangers. The push dovetails with the discovery this spring of bird flu virus in milk from infected cows. The H5N1 virus is widespread in wild birds worldwide and causing outbreaks in poultry and U.S. dairy cows. As of June 21, four human cases of the H5N1 flu had been reported in the United States. “It is important that anyone planning to consume raw milk be aware that doing so can make you sick and that pasteurization reduces the risk of milk-borne illnesses,” said Patrick Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Health and Risk Communication Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. Milk from cows, sheep, goats and other animals that has not been pasteurized to kill harmful germs is called raw or unpasteurized. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says consuming unpasteurized milk and products made from it can expose people to germs such as E. coli, listeria and salmonella. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says the commercial milk supply — which is pasteurized — is safe from the H5N1 virus, raw milk is another story. In June, before the four human cases of bird flu were reported, the Annenberg Institute surveyed 1,031 American adults online and…  read on >  read on >

Prediabetes can be successfully fought through diet and exercise, a new study shows. People with prediabetes can reduce their long-term risk of death and illness if they use diet and exercise to delay the onset of diabetes for just four years, according to findings published July 9 in the journal PLOS Medicine. Prediabetes — also known as impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) — involves blood sugar levels that are higher than normal, but haven’t reached the levels associated with full-blown diabetes. “This study suggests that a longer duration of non-diabetes status in those with IGT has beneficial health outcomes” and reduces premature death, concluded the research team led by Dr. Guangwei Li of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Da Qing City, China. For the study, researchers tracked the health of 540 people with prediabetes who participated in an earlier six-year clinical trial. In the trial, prediabetic people were assigned to one of four groups – one that followed a healthy diet; one that got more exercise; one that both ate well and exercised; and a control group. After more than 30 years of follow-up, researchers found that people who didn’t lapse into diabetes for at least four years after their diagnosis with prediabetes had a significantly lower risk of dying or experiencing a heart health event like a heart attack or stroke. That protective effect was…  read on >  read on >

If it would stave off heart disease, diabetes and colon cancer, would you swear off bacon and burgers? A new international simulation projects cutting Americans’ intake of processed meat alone by 30% could head off more than 350,000 cases of diabetes in the United States over 10 years, along with 92,500 cases of heart disease and 53,300 cases of colon cancer. That’s about 10 slices of bacon a week — a little more than one strip a day at breakfast. If Americans slashed consumption of red meat by 30% at the same time, the combined health benefit would be even bigger, according to the new study from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — nearly 1.1 million fewer cases of diabetes, 382,400 fewer cases of heart disease and 84,400 fewer cases of colon cancer. “Cutting consumption of meat has been recommended by national and international organizations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including the Climate Change Committee here in the UK and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC,” said co-author Lindsay Jaacks, head of global health and nutrition at the University of Edinburgh. “Our research finds that these changes in diets could also have significant health benefits in the U.S., and so this is a clear win-win for people and planet,” she added…  read on >  read on >

Women who survive cardiac arrest are more likely to suffer anxiety or depression than male survivors, a new study warns. Data regarding the five-year health consequences of a cardiac arrest revealed “most significantly a 50% rise in antidepressant prescription in the first year among women that was not mirrored in men,” said researcher Robin Smits, a doctoral student at Amsterdam University Medical Center. After five years, this rise tapered off to a roughly 20% increase in prescriptions. “While we need to carry out more research to understand exactly why this happens, we can already say that it shows that particularly women are not adequately supported after a cardiac arrest,” Smits said in a medical center news release.   For the study, researchers analyzed data on 1,250 people (average age: 53) who survived an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the Netherlands.  They also found that people who survive a cardiac arrest are more likely to face financial problems afterward. “We saw significant decreases in employment rates and, consequently, earnings,” Smits said. “Further, we also saw a change in ‘primary earner status’ — meaning that the member of a household who had the highest earnings frequently changed after a cardiac arrest, suggesting that it was difficult for individuals to return to the labor market.” The new research was published July 8 in the journal Circulation Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.…  read on >  read on >

Cannabis use during pregnancy might affect the way a child’s brain develops after birth, a new study says. Brain imaging of children exposed to cannabis in the womb has revealed patterns consistent with reductions in brain inflammation, researchers reported July 4 in the journal Nature Mental Health. Too much reduction in inflammation in a child’s brain could interfere with “pruning,” the natural process in which weak or unnecessary neural connections are shed as kids transition from early childhood to puberty, researchers said. “We see evidence that cannabis exposure may influence the developing brain, consistent with associations with mental health,” said researcher David Baranger, a postdoctoral fellow at Washington University in St. Louis. The research team earlier found that prenatal cannabis exposure appears to increase a child’s later risk for problems involving mental health, behavior and brain function, according to a 2020 report in JAMA Psychiatry. However, that earlier study couldn’t pinpoint whether this increased brain risk was due solely to weed exposure, or if it was also influenced by genetics or environment, researchers said. To draw a finer picture, researchers continued to analyze data from the clinical trial that formed the basis of the earlier findings. The trial involved nearly 12,000 children across the United States, and included brain imaging at ages 9-10 and 11-12. About 370 kids were exposed to cannabis before their mom…  read on >  read on >

Mounjaro outperforms Ozempic in helping people lose weight, a new study shows. People taking tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound) dropped significantly more pounds than those taking semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy), researchers reported July 8 in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. “Individuals with overweight or obesity treated with tirzepatide were significantly more likely to achieve clinically meaningful weight loss and larger reductions in body weight compared with those treated with semaglutide,” concluded the research team led by Dr. Nicholas Stucky, vice president of research with Truveta Inc., a medical research collective. For the study, researchers tracked more than 18,000 overweight and obese people who were prescribed either drug to help control their type 2 diabetes between May 2022 and September 2023. Both drugs initially were developed as type 2 diabetes medications, but were later approved for use in weight loss. Results show that both drugs are effective in promoting some weight loss. Nearly 82% of patients taking Mounjaro lost 5% or more of their body weight, compared to nearly 67% of those taking Ozempic, researchers found. However, Mounjaro users were more likely to achieve greater weight gain. About 42% of Mounjaro patients lost 15% or more of their body weight, compared to about 18% of those taking Ozempic. Overall, patients on Mounjaro were 76% more likely than those on Ozempic to lose 5% or more of their body weight; 2.5…  read on >  read on >

In yet another finding that touts the health benefits of wildly popular weight-loss medications like Wegovy and Ozempic, scientists report that taking the drugs may help reduce the risk of some cancers. In a study published July 5 in JAMA Network Open, researchers found people with type 2 diabetes who were being treated with a class of GLP-1 drugs were less likely to be diagnosed with 10 of 13 obesity-linked cancers than those who were taking insulin. The reduction in risk was significant: Taking the medications cut rates of gallbladder cancer, meningioma, pancreatic cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma, a type of liver cancer, by more than half.  Risks were also reduced for cancers of the ovaries, colon, esophagus and kidneys as well as for multiple myeloma (a cancer of the bone marrow) and endometrial cancer (which begins in the lining of the uterus). Excess weight can trigger chronic inflammation and high levels of insulin, insulin-like growth factor and sex hormones. All of these can prompt the development of cancer, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. GLP-1 medications interact with systems related to insulin production, the researchers noted. Importantly, the study found that taking GLP-1 drugs did not lower the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer, which CDC data show is the most common obesity-linked cancer. Risk was also not reduced for stomach cancer or thyroid…  read on >  read on >

Researchers have identified a gene that can trigger obesity, behavior problems and postpartum depression when missing or damaged. The finding could lead to new treatments for postpartum depression and overeating: The study in mice suggests the so-called “love hormone” — oxytocin — may ease symptoms.  Obesity and postpartum depression are major health problems worldwide. The new study, published July 2 in the journal Cell, is an outgrowth of research by scientists at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and the University of Cambridge in the U.K.  They were studying two boys from different families who were severely obese. The boys had autism, anxiety and behavior problems triggered by smells or sounds. Both were missing a gene called TRP5.  They inherited the gene deletion from their mothers, who also were missing the gene. Both women were obese and had experienced postpartum depression. To find out if the missing TRPC5 gene was causing problems in the boys and their moms, researchers put genetic engineering to work. They produced mice with a defective version of the gene — called Trpc5 in mice. “What we saw in those mice was quite remarkable,” said study co-author Dr. Yong Xu, associate director for basic sciences at the USDA/ARS Children’s Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “They displayed very similar behaviors to those seen in people missing the TRPC5…  read on >  read on >

Wartime appears to increase the risk of chronic pain for military women, a new study suggests. Active-duty servicewomen who served between 2006 and 2013 – a period of heightened combat deployments – had a significantly increased risk of chronic pain compared to women serving at other times, according to results published July 5 in the journal JAMA Network Open. Likewise, female family members of military personnel serving in 2006-2013 also were more likely to experience chronic pain, researchers found. “I was surprised by the magnitude of the effect we observed here, particularly among female civilian spouses,” lead researcher Dr. Andrew Schoenfeld, an orthopedic surgeon with Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said in a news release. “This underscores an overlooked aspect of deployment schedules that the Military Health System must recognize.” About 21% of U.S. adults experience chronic pain, which can persist for months to years, researchers said in background notes. For the new study, researchers analyzed Military Health System medical records for nearly 3.5 million women 18 to 64 from 2006 to 2020. Nearly 325,000 women (9%) had a diagnosis of chronic pain. Researchers divided the women into two groups — those treated from 2006 to 2013, a period of more intense combat exposure, and those treated from 2014 to 2020, when there was significantly less combat exposure. Women in active service from 2006…  read on >  read on >